Time

VIEW:22 DATA:01-04-2020

TIME.—The conception that we seem to gather of time from the Holy Scriptures is of a small block, as it were, cut out of boundless eternity. Of past eternity, if we may use such an expression, God is the only inhabitant; in future eternity angels and men are to share. And this ‘block’ of time is infinitesimally small. In God’s sight, in the Divine mind, ‘a thousand years are but as yesterday’ (Psa_90:4; cf. 2Pe_3:8 ‘one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day’). Time has a beginning; it has also, if we accept the usual translation of Rev_10:6 ‘there shall be time no longer,’ a stated end. The word ‘time’ in Biblical apocalyptic literature has another meaning—‘time’ stands for ‘a year’ both in Daniel (Dan_4:16; Dan_4:23; Dan_4:25; Dan_4:32; Dan_7:25, where the plural ‘times’ seems to stand for two years) and in Rev_12:14 (derived from Dan_7:25).
When once the idea of time formed itself in the human mind, subdivisions of it would follow as a matter of course. The division between light and darkness, the rising, the zenith, and the setting of the sun and the moon, together with the phases of the latter, and the varying position of the most notable stars in the firmament, would all suggest modes of reckoning time, to say nothing of the circuit of the seasons as indicated by the growth and development of the fruits of the field and agricultural operations. Hence we find in Gen_1:1-31 day and night as the first division of time, and, because light was believed to be a later creation than matter, one whole day is said to be made up of evening and morning; and the day is reckoned, as it still is by the Jews and, in principle, by the Church in her ecclesiastical feasts, from one disappearance of the sun to the next, the divisions between day and night being formed by that appearance and disappearance. In this same cosmogony we meet with a further use of the lights in the firmament of heaven; they are to be ‘for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years’ (Gen_1:14). The day would thus be an obvious division of time for intelligent beings to make from the very earliest ages. As time went on, subdivisions of this day would be made, derived from an observance of the sun in the heavens—morning, noonday or midday, and evening; and, by analogy, there would be a midnight. The only other expression we meet with is ‘between the two evenings’ (Exo_12:6), used most probably for the time between sunset and dark, though others take it as equivalent to ‘the time of the going down of the sun,’ i.e. any time in the afternoon: any shorter subdivisions of time were not known to the Jews till they were brought into contact with Western civilization and the Roman military arrangements. The only exception to this is the ‘steps’ on the dial of Ahaz (2Ki_20:9-11). In the passages in Daniel where the word hour occurs in the EV [Note: English Version.] , the term is quite an indefinite one, the ‘one hour’ of Dan_4:19 in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] becoming ‘a while’ in RV [Note: Revised Version.] . The Aram [Note: ram Aramaic.] , word used in that book was used in the New Hebrew for the word ‘hour.’ In the Apocrypha the word ‘hour’ is quite indefinite. But in the NT we find the Western division of the day into twelve hours, reckoning from sunrise to sunset, quite established. ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day?’ said our Lord, in an appeal to the Jews (Joh_11:9). Westcott holds that in St. John’s Gospel (Joh_1:39, Joh_4:6; Joh_4:52, Joh_19:14) the modern mode of reckoning the hours from midnight to midnight is followed. The strongest passage in support of this view is Joh_19:14. These twelve hours were divided into the four military watches of three hours each (cf. Mat_14:25 ‘the fourth watch of the night’), as distinguished from the three watches which seem to have prevailed among the Jews (‘if he shall come in the second watch, and if in the third,’ Luk_12:38). The only other measure of time, quite indefinite and infinitesimal, is the ‘moment,’ common to OT, Apocr. [Note: Apocrypha, Apocryphal.] , and NT (‘we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,’ 1Co_15:52). To-morrow (Exo_8:23) and yesterday (Exo_5:14), and even yesternight (Gen_31:29), would soon take their place on either side of to-day. The Hebrew word meaning literally ‘the day before yesterday,’ is generally used vaguely of previous time, ‘heretofore.’
The next obvious division of time would be the month. The phases of the moon would be watched, and it would soon be noticed that these recurred at regular intervals. Each appearance of the new moon would be noted as the beginning of a new period. The first mention of the new moon in Biblical history is in 1Sa_20:5, though ‘the beginnings of the months’ are mentioned in the ritual laws of Num_10:10; Num_28:11. Of the two Heb. words for ‘month,’ one is identical with the word for ‘moon,’ the other means ‘newness.’ Though the actual period of each moon is rather more than 29 days, the actual time of its visibility could scarcely be more than 28 days. The first appearance of the new moon would be eagerly watched for and made a matter of rejoicing. We find, in fact, that a keen lookout was kept for it, and the ‘new moon’ feast was kept with great rejoicings, as well as, apparently in later times, a ‘full moon’ feast (‘Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, At the full moon, on our solemn feast day,’ Psa_81:3).
Given this period of 28 days, together with the recurrent phases of the moon, it would naturally be subdivided, like the day itself, into four divisions or weeks of seven days each. The first occurrence of a week is in Gen_29:27, though the Creation is represented as having been completed, including the rest of the Almighty, in a period of seven days, and periods of seven days occur in the history of the Flood. Of the two Heb. names for ‘week’ one is derived from the number seven, and the other is identical with ‘Sabbath,’ the day which completes the Jewish week. The NT takes over the latter word, and makes a Greek noun of it, whilst to the Christian and to the Christian Church, the first day of the week becomes the important day, instead of the seventh, and is for Christians the day of gathering together ‘to break bread’ (Act_20:7), and of making collections for the needs of the faithful (1Co_16:2), and also wins for itself the name of ‘the Lord’s day’ (Rev_1:10). The word ‘week’ was given other applications. The seventh year completed a week of years and was a sabbath; seven times seven years formed seven sabbaths of years, i.e. forty-nine years, and was followed by the jubilee. From the constant occurrence of the tenth day of the month in the dating of events, it has been supposed that the month of 30 days was also subdivided into periods of ten days each (see, e.g., Exo_12:3, Lev_16:29, Jos_4:19, 2Ki_25:1 etc.).
There are no names in the OT for the days of the week except for the seventh—the Sabbath. In the Apocrypha (Jdt_8:6) there is a name for Friday which is translated ‘the eve of the Sabbath’; so in Mar_15:42 ‘the day before the Sabbath.’ This day is also called the Preparation (Mat_27:62, Mar_15:42, Luk_23:54, Joh_19:31). In Roman Catholic service-books Good Friday is still called ‘Feria Sexta in Parasceue’ (i.e. the Preparation), and the following Saturday ‘Sabbatum Sanctum.’
Whilst these various divisions of time were being arrived at, there would be, concurrently with them, the obvious recurrence of the seasons in their due order. One of the promises represented as having been made by God to Noah immediately after the Flood was that seedtime (i.e. spring), summer, harvest (i.e. autumn), and winter should not cease (Gen_8:22). This is the earliest time in the world’s history to which a knowledge of the seasons is attributed in the Bible. Afterwards summer and winter are frequently mentioned. In AV [Note: Authorized Version.] the word ‘spring,’ to mean that season, occurs only in Wis_2:7, and ‘autumn’ not at all, though the word translated ‘winter’ in Amo_3:15, Jer_36:22, might equally be rendered ‘autumn,’ as the time referred to is the border time between autumn and winter. It would in due course be noticed that the seasons recurred practically after a series of twelve moons or months; hence would come in the division of time into years of twelve lunar months. A year of 360 days is implied in the history of the Flood (Gen_6:1-22; Gen_7:1-24; Gen_8:1-22), but no satisfactory explanation has yet been given of the scheme of years and chronology in the genealogical account of antediluvian times (Gen_5:1-32).
The twelve months of the year would be given names. The Biblical names we find for them are:
1. Abib (Exo_13:4), the month of the green ears of corn, about the same as our April, called in post-exilic times, in correspondence with its Bab. [Note: Babylonian.] name, Nisan (Neh_2:1). This was the month in which the Passover came.
2. Ziv (1Ki_6:1), seemingly the bright month, called later Iyyar.
3. Sivan (Est_8:9), another Bab. [Note: Babylonian.] name, occurring only in this one passage in the OT.
4. This month has no Biblical name, but was called in later times Tammuz, after the god of that name, in whose honour a fast was kept during the month, which is mentioned in Zec_8:19 as ‘the fast of the fourth month.’
5. This month also has no Biblical name, but was called later Ab.
6. Elul (Neh_6:15, 1Ma_14:27). The etymology of this name is unknown; it occurs in Assyrian.
7. Ethanim (1Ki_8:2), the month of constant flowings, in later times called Tishri. This was the first month of the civil year.
8. Bul (1Ki_6:38), a word of doubtful etymology, called later Marcheshvan.
9. Chislev (Neh_1:1, Zec_7:1, 1Ma_1:54 etc.), a Bab. [Note: Babylonian.] word of uncertain derivation.
10. Tebeth (Est_2:18), taken over from the Assyrian. It has been conjectured to mean ‘the month of sinking in,’ i.e. the muddy month.
11. Shebat (Zec_1:7, 1Ma_16:14), taken from the Babylonian; of doubtful meaning, but, according to some, the month of destroying rain.
12. Adar (Ezr_6:15, Est_3:7 etc.), a Bab. [Note: Babylonian.] word, perhaps meaning darkened. In 2Ma_15:36 we are informed that the twelfth month ‘is called Adar in the Syrian tongue.’
The names given are, it will be seen, of rare occurrence, and only four of them are pre-exilic. Biblical writers are generally content to give the number of the month. Some of the months were notable for their ecclesiastical feasts. In the first came the Passover, on the 14th day; in the third, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost); in the seventh, the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles, as also the Fast of the Day of Atonement; in the ninth, the Feast of Dedication; and in the twelfth, the Feast of Purim.
Though at first all the months seem to have been reckoned of equal length, in later times they contained 30 and 29 days alternately. This rendered an intercalation in the Calendar necessary, to keep the Passover in the right season of the year; and this intercalary period was called the second Adar, and was inserted as required to bring Abib to its proper place in the year.
It remains to mention that in the Apocrypha we have traces of the Macedonian Calendar. In 2Ma_11:21, a month is named Dioscorinthius, a name which does not occur elsewhere, and which is either a corruption of the text for Dystrus, a name for the twelfth month, which occurs in the Sinaitic text of Tob_2:12, or the name of an intercalary month inserted at the end of the year. In 2Ma_11:30 Xanthicus, the name for the first month of the Macedonian year, occurs. It answers to the month Abib. These names, with other Macedonian names, are used by Josephus. In 3Ma_6:38 two Egyptian months, Pachon and Epiphi, occur, the former being omitted in some texts. They are the ninth and eleventh months of the Egyptian year.
Of epochs or eras there is but little trace. There were the periods of seven years and fifty years already mentioned, but they never occur in any chronological statement. 430 years is the time assigned to the sojourning in Egypt, both in OT and NT (Exo_12:40, Gal_3:17), and the commencement of the building of Solomon’s Temple is dated 480 years after the Exodus. The chronology of the two kingdoms is reckoned by regnal years, though in some cases a regency period is counted as part of the length of the reign. Twice in Isaiah (Isa_6:1; Isa_14:28) the date noted is that of the year of the death of a king, in another case the date is the invasion by the Tartan (Isa_20:1); whilst in Amos (Amo_1:1) a date is given as ‘two years before the earthquake,’ apparently a particularly severe one which happened during the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah (Zec_14:5). The ‘seventy years’ of the Captivity is also a well-known period, as is the thousand years of the Apocalypse (Rev_20:1-15), with all the speculations it has given rise to. In later times the years were reckoned by the names of those who filled the office of high priest; in Luk_3:1 f., we have a careful combination of names of various offices held by various persons at the time of the commencement of the preaching of John the Baptist, to indicate the date.
Of instruments to measure time we hear of only one, the sun-dial of Ahaz (2Ki_20:9-11, Isa_38:8), but what shape or form this took we do not know.
H. A. Redpath.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

Life in the present world is inseparably bound up with time. Time is part of God’s created order (Gen_1:14; Heb_1:2). By contrast God, being the eternal one and the creator of all things, is not limited in any way by time. This means that his view of time is different from that of human beings (Isa_57:15; 1Ti_1:17; 1Ti_6:16; 2Pe_3:8; see ETERNITY).
Nevertheless, God is able to use time to bring his purposes to fulfilment (Gal_4:4), and he gives it to the people of his creation to use also (Ecc_5:18; Ecc_8:15). Men and women are therefore responsible to God for the way they use their time (1Pe_1:15-17). (Concerning systems for reckoning time see DAY; MONTH.)
As a wise, powerful and loving Creator, God sees that everything happens at the right time to maintain the world for the benefit of his creatures (Deu_11:14; 2Ki_4:16; Ecc_3:11; Act_14:17). He controls history, often announcing in advance the precise time for his actions (Exo_9:18; Isa_37:33-38; Act_17:26). (Concerning the time element in the writings of the prophets see PROPHECY.) Jesus’ birth, ministry, death and resurrection all took place at the time God had appointed (Gal_4:4; Mar_1:15; Joh_8:20; Joh_12:23; Joh_12:27; Joh_17:1). Christ’s return will also occur when God’s time has come (Mar_13:32; Act_1:7; Rev_14:15; see DAY OF THE LORD).
Because history is moving constantly towards its climax, Christians must use their time wisely (Psa_90:12; Col_4:5). They should see time not merely as a period measured by a clock or a calendar, but as an opportunity given them to use. This does not mean that they have to create unnecessary pressure by squeezing as much as they can into their time, but that they should live and behave as befits God’s people (Eph_5:15-17; 1Pe_4:1-3). The prospect of Christ’s return is an incentive not to hectic activity but to more Christlike conduct (Rom_13:11-14; 1Jn_2:18; 1Jn_2:28).
God wants people to use their time in worthwhile work, but his gift of the Sabbath shows that he also wants them to have time for rest (Exo_23:12; cf. Gen_2:2-3). People should not waste their time through laziness or worthless activities (Pro_10:4-5; Pro_12:11; Pro_18:9; 2Th_3:11-12; 1Ti_5:13), but neither should they spend their time in constant activity that leaves no time for proper relaxation (Neh_13:15-21; Ecc_2:21-23; Amo_8:5; cf. Mar_6:30-31; Luk_10:40-42; see WORK).
In their concern for time, people should not try to calculate when present life will end. Rather they should use the opportunity of the present life to accept God’s salvation and grow in Christian character (Act_1:6-8; 2Co_6:1-2; Heb_3:13; Heb_4:7; Heb_5:12-14; Heb_10:25; cf. Luk_12:16-20; Jam_4:13-16).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

tı̄m: The basis of the Hebrew measurement of time was the day and the lunar month, as with the Semites generally. The division of the day into hours was late, probably not common until after the exile, although the sun-dial of Ahaz (2Ki_20:9; Isa_38:8) would scent to indicate some division of the day into periods of some sort, as we know the night was divided, The word used for ?hour? is Aramaic שׁעא, she‛ā' (שׁעתּא, sha‛tā'), and does not occur in the Old Testament until the Book of Daniel (Dan_4:33; Dan_5:5), and even there it stands for an indefinite period for which ?time? would answer as well.

1. The Day:
The term ?day? (יום, yōm) was in use from the earliest times, as is indicated in the story of the Creation (Gen 1). It there doubtless denotes an indefinite period, but is marked off by ?evening and morning? in accordance with what we know was the method of reckoning the day of 24 hours, i.e. from sunset to sunset.

2. Night:
The night was divided, during pre-exilic times, into three divisions called watches (אשמּוּרה, 'ashmūrāh, אשׁמרת, 'ashmōreth), making periods of varying length, as the night was longer or shorter (Jdg_7:19). This division is referred to in various passages of the Old Testament, but nowhere with indication of definite limits (see Psa_90:4; Psa_119:148; Jer_51:12; Hab_2:1).
In the New Testament we find the Roman division of the night into four watches (φυλακή, phulakḗ) in use (Mat_14:25; Mar_6:48), but it is possible that the former division still persisted. The use of the term ?day? for the period from sunrise to sunset, or for day as distinguished from night, was common, as at present (Jos_10:13; Psa_19:2; Pro_4:18; Isa_27:3; Joh_9:4, etc.). But the use of the word in the indefinite sense, as in the expressions: ?day of the Lord,? ?in that day,? ?the day of judgment,? etc., is far more frequent (see DAY). Other more or less indefinite periods of the day and night are: dawn, dawning of the day, morning, evening, noonday, midnight, cock-crowing or crowing of the cock, break of day, etc.

3. Week:
The weekly division of time, or the seven-day period, was in use very early and must have been known to the Hebrews before the Mosaic Law, since it was in use in Babylonia before the days of Abraham and is indicated In the story of the Creation. The Hebrew שׁבוּע, shābhūa‛, used in the Old Testament for ?week,? is derived from שׁבע, shebha‛, the word for ?seven.? As the seventh day was a day of rest, or Sabbath (Hebrew שׁבּת, shabbāth), this word came to be used for ?week,? as appears in the New Testament (σαββατόν, -τά, sabbatón, -tá), indicating the period from Sabbath to Sabbath (Mat_28:1). The same usage is implied in the Old Testament (Lev_23:15; Lev_25:8). The days of the week were indicated by the numerals, first, second, etc., save the seventh, which was the Sabbath. In New Testament times Friday was called the day of preparation (παρασκευή, paraskeuḗ) for the Sabbath (Luk_23:54).

4. Month:
The monthly division of time was determined, of course, by the phases of the moon, the appearance of the new moon being the beginning of the month, חדשׁ, ḥōdhesh. Another term for month was yeraḥ (ירח) meaning ?moon,? which was older and derived from the Phoenician usage, but which persisted to late times, since it is found in the Aramaic inscriptions of the 3rd century AD in Syria. The names of the months were Babylonian and of late origin among the Hebrews, probably coming into use during and after the Captivity. But they had other names, of earlier use, derived from the Phoenicians, four of which have survived in ?Abib,? ?Ziv,? ?Ethanim? and ?Bul.? See CALENDAR.

5. Year:
The Hebrew year (שׁנה, shānāh) was composed of 12 or 13 months, the latter being the year when an intercalary month was added to make the lunar correspond with the solar year. As the difference between the two was from ten to eleven days, this required the addition of a month once in about three years, or seven in nineteen years. This month was added at the vernal equinox and was called after the month next preceding, we-'ădhār, or the ?second Adar.? We do not know when this arrangement was first adopted, but it was current after the Captivity. There were two years in use, the civil and the ritual, or sacred year. The former began in the autumn, as would appear from Exo_23:16; Exo_34:22, where it is stated that the ?feast of ingathering? should be at the end of the year, and the Sabbatic year began in the 7th month of the calendar or sacred year, which would correspond to September-October (Lev_25:9). Josephus says (Ant., I, iii, 3) that Moses designated Nican (March-April) as the 1st month of the festivals, i.e. of the sacred year, but preserved the original order of the months for ordinary affairs, evidently referring to the civil year. This usage corresponds to that of the Turkish empire, where the sacred year is lunar and begins at different seasons, but the financial and political year begins in March O.S. The beginning of the year was called השּׁנה ראשׁ, rō'sh ha-shānāh, and was determined by the priests, as was the beginning of the month. Originally this was done by observation of the moon, but, later, calculation was employed in connection with it, until finally a system based on accurate calculation was adopted, which was not until the 4th century AD. New-Year was regarded as a festival. See ASTRONOMY, I, 5; YEAR.

6. Seasons:
The return of the seasons was designated by summer and winter, or seed-time and harvest; for they were practically the same. There is, in Palestine, a wet season, extending from October to March or April, and a dry season comprising the remainder of the year. The first is the winter (חרף, ḥōreph), and this is the seed-time (זרע, zera‛), especially the first part of it called יורה, yōreh, or the time of the early rain; the second is the summer (קיץ, ḳayic, ?fruit-harvest,? or קציר, ḳācı̄r, ?harvest?).
Seed-time begins as soon as the early rains have fallen in sufficient quantity to moisten the earth for plowing, and the harvest begins in some parts, as in the lower Jordan region, near the Dead Sea, about April, but on the high lands a month or two later. The fruit harvest comes in summer proper and continues until the rainy season. ?The time when kings go out to war? (2Sa_11:1; 1Ki_20:22) probably refers to the end of the rainy season in Nican.

7. No Era:
We have no mention in the Old Testament of any era for time reckoning, and we do not find any such usage until the time of the Maccabees. There are occasional references to certain events which might have served for eras had they been generally adopted. Such was the Exodus in the account of the building of the temple (1Ki_6:1) and the Captivity (Eze_33:21; Eze_40:1) and the Earthquake (Amo_1:1). Dates were usually fixed by the regnal years of the kings, and of the Persian kings after the Captivity. When Simon the Maccabee became independent of the Seleucid kings in 143-142 or 139-138 BC, he seems to have established an era of his own, if we may attribute to him a series of coins dated by the years ?of the independence of Israel? (see COINS: MONEY; also 1 Macc 13:41 and 15:6, 10). The Jews doubtless were familiar with the Seleucid era, which began in 312 BC, and with some of the local eras of the Phoenician cities, but we have no evidence that they made use of them. The era of the Creation was not adopted by them until after the time of Christ. This was fixed at 3, 830 years before the destruction of the later temple, or 3760 BC. See ERA.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Dan_12:7 (a) This is taken to mean one year. "Times" is taken to means two years. "Half a time" is taken to mean six months. (See also Rev_12:14).

Rev_10:6 (a) This passage does not mean that there will be an end to the clocks and that time will be no more. It refers to the fact that what must be done is to be done immediately. There can be no procrastination, no putting off until later, no indecision, every matter must be immediately attended to, without delay. It may be illustrated by the time of the departure of the train. If the train leaves at 9:00 o'clock, then there is no more time to get on board.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.


(the proper and usual rendering of עֵת, eth [later זְמָן, zemdna]. a general word, Gr. χρόνος, space of duration; while מוֹעֵד, moed, Katpoe, signifies a fixed time, either by human or divine appointment, or the natural seasons). A peculiar use of the term occurs in the phrase “a time, times, and a half” (Heb. וְחֵצַי מוֹעֵד מוֹעֲדַים, Dan_12:7; Chald. וּפְלִג
עֵדָּן וְעַדָּנַין, 7:25; Gr. καιρὸς καὶ καιροὶ καὶ ἣμισυ, Rev_12:14), in the conventional sense of three years and a half (see Josephus, War, 1, 1). The following are the regular divisions of time among the Hebrews, each of which invariably preserves its strict literal sense, except where explicitly modified by the immediate context. We here treat them severally but together, in the order of their extension, and refer to the several articles for more detailed information. SEE CHRONOLOGY.
1. Year ( שָׁנָה, so called from the change of the seasons). The years of the Israelites, like those of the modern Jews, were lunar (Rabbinical שְׁנֵי הִלַּבֵנָה), of 354 d. 8 h. 48 min. 38 sec., consisting of twelve (unequal) lunar months; and as this falls short of the true year (an astronomical month having 29 d. 12 h. 44 min. 2.84 sec.), they were obliged, in order to preserve the regularity of harvest and vintage (Exo_23:16), to add a month occasionally, so as to make it on the average coincide with the solar year (Rabbinical שְנִת הִחִמָּה), which has 365 d. 5 h. 48 min. 45 sec. The method of doing this among the very ancient Hebrews is entirely unknown (see a conjecture in Ideler, Chronol. 1, 490; another in Credner, Joel, p. 218). The Talmudists find mention of an intercalation under Hezekiah (2Ch_30:2; see Mishna, Pesach. 4:9), but without foundation (see, however, on the reconcilement of the lunar with the solar year, Galen, Comment. 1, in Hippoc. Epidem. [Opp. ed. Kihn. 13:23]). Among the later Jews (who called an intercalated year שנה מעיברת, in distinction from a common year, or שנה משוטה), an intercalary month was inserted after Adar, and was hence called Vedar (ואדר), or second Adar (אדר שני) (Mishna, Eduyoth, 7:7; see the distinctions of the Gemarists in Reland, Antiq. Sacr. 4:1; comp. Ben David, Zur Berechn. u. Gesch. d. jüd. Kalend. [Berl. 1817]; Ideler, ut sup. p. 537 sq.; Anger, De Temp. in Act. Ap. Ratione, 1, 31 sq.). The intercalation (עיבור) was regularly decreed by the Sanhedrim, which observed the rule never to add a month to the sabbatical year. It usually was obliged to intercalate every third year, but occasionally had to do so in two consecutive years.
The Israelitish year began, as the usual enumeration of the months shows (Lev_23:34; Lev_25:9; Num_9:11; 2Ki_25:8; Jer_39:2; comp. 1Ma_4:52; 1Ma_10:21), with Abib or Nisan (see Est_3:7), subsequent to and in accordance with the Mosaic arrangement (Exo_12:2),'which had a retrospective reference to the departure out of Egypt (9, 31; see Baihr, Symbolik, 2, 639). Yet as we constantly find this arrangement spoken of as a festal calendar, most Rabbinical and many Christian scholars understand that the civil year began, as with the modern Jews, with Tisri (October), but the ecclesiastical year with Nisan (Mishna, Rosh Hash-shanah, 1, 1; comp. Josephus, Ant. 1, 3,3. See also Rosenmüller, on Exo_12:2; Hitzig, Jesa. p. 335; Seyffarth, Chronol. Sacra, p. 34 sq.). But this distinction is probably a post-exilian reckoning (Havernick argues against its inference from Eze_40:1), which was an accommodation to the time of the arrival of returned exiles in Palestine (Ezr_3:1 sq.; Neh_7:73; Neh_8:1 sq.), and later fell into harmony with the Seleucid era, which dated from October (see Benfey, Monats-nam. p. 217; and comp. 1Ma_4:52; 1Ma_10:21; 2Ma_15:37). Yet this has little countenance from the enactment of the festival of the seventh new moon (Lev_23:24; Num_29:1-6), which has in the Mosaic legislation certainly a different import from the Rabbinical ordinance (see Vriemoet, Observ. Misc. p. 284 sq.; Gerdes, De Festo Clangoris [Duisb. 1700; also in his Exercit. Acad.]). SEE NEW MOON. Nor does the expression “in the end of the year” (בְּצֵאֹת הִשָּׁנָה), with reference to the Feast of Tabernacles (Exo_23:16), favor this assumption (see Ideler, p. 493). Other passages adduced (Job_29:4; Joe_2:25), as well as the custom of many other nations (Credner, ut sup. p. 209 sq.), are a very precarious argument. Nevertheless, it is clear that even in the pre-exilian period of the theocracy, the autumn, as being the close of the year's labor, was often regarded among the agrarian population as a. terminal date (Ideler, Chronol. 1, 493 sq.; see Dresde, Annus Jud. ex Antiq. Illust. [Lips. 1766; merely Rabbinic]; Selden, De Anno Civili Vett. Hebr. [Lond. 1644; also in Ugolino, Thesaur. 17] Nagel, De Calendario Vett. Ebr... [Altdorf, 1746]). Seyffarth maintains that even prior to the destruction of Jerusalem the Israelites reckoned by lunar months (Zeitschr. d. deutsch. morgenl. Gesellsch. 2, 344 sq.). The prevailing belief, however, that they had from the first such a year has been of late combated by Bottcher (Prob. alttest. Schrifterkldr. p. 283; De Inferis, 1, 125) and Credner (Joel, p. 210 sq.), and most stoutly by Seyffarth (Chronol. Sacra, p. 26 sq.). Credner holds that the Israelites originally had a solar year of thirty-day months, and that this was exchanged for the lunar year when the three great festivals were accurately determined, i.e. about the time of king Hezekiah and Josiah (on the contrary, see Von Bohlen, Genes. p. 105 sq.; Benfey and Stern, Ueber die Monatsnamen, p. 5 sq.). Seyffarth, however, ascribes the solar year to the Jews down to about 200 B.C.
A well-defined and universal era was unknown among the ancient Hebrews. National events are sometimes dated from the departure out of Egypt (Exo_19:1; Num_33:38; 1Ki_6:1), usually from the accession of the kings (as in Kings, Chronicles, and Jeremiah), later from the beginning of the exile (Eze_33:21; Eze_40:1). Jeremiah reckons the Captivity according to the years of Nebuchadnezzar (Eze_25:1 sq.), but Ezekiel (Eze_1:1) otherwise. The post-exilian books date according to the regal years of the Persian masters of Palestine (Ezra 1Ma_4:26; 1Ma_6:15; 1Ma_7:7 sq.; Neh_2:1; Neh_5:4; Neh_13:6; Hag_1:1; Hag_2:11; Zec_7:1). But as Syrian vassals the Jews adopted the Greek (1Ma_1:10) or Seleucid era ( מַנַיִן שְׁטָרוֹת, cera contractum, since it was used in contracts generally, Arab. karyakh ahu-ikerfin), which dated from the overthrow of Babylon by Seleucus Nicator I (Olymp. 117, 1), and began with the autumn of B.C. 312 (see Ideler, Handb. d. Chronol. 1, 448). This reckoning is employed in the books of the Maccabees, which, however, singularly differ by one year between themselves, the second book being about one year behind the first in its dates (comp. 1Ma_6:16 with 2Ma_11:21; 1Ma_6:20 with 2Ma_13:1); from which it would seem that the author of 2 Macc. had a different epoch for the ser. Seleuc. from the author of 1 Macc., with the latter of whom Josephus agrees in his chronology. Inasmuch as 1 Macc. always counts by Jewish months in the Seleucid sera (1Ma_1:57; 1Ma_4:52; 1Ma_4:59; 1Ma_7:43; 1Ma_14:27; 1Ma_16:14), and these are computed from Nisan (1Ma_10:21; 1Ma_16:14)-the second book likewise counts by Jewish months (1Ma_1:18; 1Ma_10:5; 1Ma_15:37 : on the contrary 1Ma_11:21)we might suppose that the former begins the Seleucid sera with the spring of B.C. 312, while the latter begins it with the autumn of the same year (Petav. Raionar. 10:45; Prideaux, 2, 267, etc.), a conclusion to which other circumstances likewise point (Ideler, ut sup. p. 531 sq.; Wieseler, Chronol. Synopsis, p. 451 sq.). What Wernsdorf objects'(De Fide Maccab. p. 19 sq.) is not of much importance; but we cannot thence infer that the Babylonians began the Seleucid sera with the autumn of 3) 1 (Seyffarth, Chronol. Sacra, p. 20). See Hosmann, De AEra Seleucid. et Regum Syriae Successione (Kil. 1752). Still another national reckoning is given in 1Ma_13:41 sq., namely, from the year of the deliverance of-the Jews from the Syrian yoke, i.e. seventeen era Seleuc., or from the autumn of B.C. 143 (Josephus, Ant. 13:6, 6), and this era appears upon Samaritan coins (Eckhel, Doctrina Numor. Vett. I, 3, 463 sq.). On other Jewish eras see the Mishna (Götting, 8:5). SEE YEAR.
2. — Month (חֹדַשׁ, lit. new, sc. moon; seldom and more Aramaic יָרֵחִ, the moon). The months of the Hebrews, as stated above, were lunar (as appears from the foregoing names), and began from the new moon as ocularly observed (the [synodic] lunar month has 26 d. 12 h. 44 min. 3 [strictly 2.82] sec. [Ideler, Chronol. 1, 43]). This is certain from the post- exilian period (Mishna, Rosh Hash-shanah, 1, 5 sq.), but for pre-exilian times various conjectures have been hazarded (see above). The length of the lunar month in the later period depended upon the day when the appearance of the new moon was announced by the Sanhedrim (see a similar reckoning in Macrob. Sat. 1, 15, p. 273 ed. Bip.), which thus made the month either twenty-nine days (חֹדֵשׂ חָסֵר, i.e. short) or thirty days (חֹדֶשׁ מָלֵא, i.e. full), according as the day was included in the following or the preceding month. The general rule was that in one year not less than four nor more than eight full months could occur (Mishna, Arach. 2, 2). The final adjustment of the lunar to the solar year was by intercalation (עיבור), so that whenever in the last month, Adar, it became evident that the Passover, which must be held in the following month, Nisan, would occur before harvest, i.e. not at the time when the sun would be in Aries (Josephus, Ant. 3, 10, 5), an entire month (Vadar) was interjected between Adar and Nisan, constituting an intercalary year (שׁנה מעוברת, which, however, according to the Gemara, did not take place in a sabbatic year, but always in that which preceded it; nor in two successive years, nor yet more than three years apart). See Anger, De Teps. in Act. Ap. Ratione, p.30 sq.
Prior to the exile the individual months were usually designated by numbers (the twelfth month occurs in 2Ki_25:27, Jer_52:31; Eze_29:1; comp. 1Ki_4:7); yet we find also the following names: Earn-month (חֹדֶשׁ הָאָבַיב, Exo_13:4; Exo_23:15; Deu_16:1, etc.), corresponding to the later Nisan; Bloom- month ( זַו [or זַיו] חֹדֶשׁ, 1Ki_6:1; 1Ki_6:37), the second month; Rain- month (יֶרִח בּוּל, 1Ki_6:38), the eighth (connected by Benfey, p. 182, with the word בִּעִל בֵּל; see the Talmudic interpretation cited by him, p. 16); Freshet-month ( יֶרִח הָאֲתָנַים, 8:2), the seventh; all of which seem to be mere appellatives (see. Benfey and Stern, Ueber die Monatsnamen einiger alten Vilker [Berl. 1836], p. 2). After the exile the months received the following names (Gemara, Pesach. 94:2; Targ. Sheni on Esther 3, 7 sq.; comp. Mishna, Shekal. 3, 1): 1. Nisan (נַיסָן, Nehemiah 2, 1; Esther 3, 7), the first month, in which the Passover (q.v.) was held (and in which the vernal equinox fell, Joseph us, Ant. 3, 10, 5), corresponding, in general, to our April (Ideler, Chronol. 1. 491), and answering (Josephus, Ant. 3, 10, 5; War, 5, 3, 1) to the Macedonico-Syrian Xanthicus, also (Ant. 2, 14, 6) to the Egyptian month Pharmuthi, which last, however, was March 27-April 25 of the Julian calendar (Ideler, ut sup. 1, 143); 2. lydr (אַיָּי, Targ. on 2Ch_30:2); 3. Sivan ( סיון Est, Est_8:9; Σειουάλ, Bar. 1, 8); 4. Tammuz תּמּוּז); 5. Ab.( אָב); 6. Elul (אלֵוּל, Neh_6:15; Ε᾿λούλ, 1Ma_14:27), the last month of the civil year in the post-exilian age (Mishna, Shebiith, 10:2; Erubin, 3, 7); 7. Tishri (תְּשְׁרַי.), in which the festivals of Atonement and Tabernacles fell (also the autumnal equinox); 8. Marcheshvdn (מִרְחֶשְׁוָן, Μασουάν or Μαρσουάνη, Josephus, Ant. 1, 3, 3); 9, Kislev (כַּסְלֵו, Neh_1:1; Zec_7:1; Χασλεῦ, 1Ma_1:54); 10.Tebeth (טֵבֵת, Est_2:16); 11. Shebat (שְׁבָט, Zec_1:7; Σαβάτ , 1Ma_16:14); 12. Addr (אֲדֶר, Est_3:7; Est_8:12; Α᾿δάρ, 2Ma_15:37); 13. Ve-A ddr (וַאָדָר; strictly Va-Adar, וִאֲדָר), or second Adar (שֵׁנַי אָדָר. or בִּתְרָאָה). Occasionally, however, the months were newly numbered in the post-exilian period likewise (Hag_1:1; Hag_2:1 sq.; Zec_1:1; Zec_8:19;: Neh_7:73; Neh_8:3; Neh_8:14; Dan_10:4; 1Ma_9:3; 1Ma_9:54; 1Ma_10:21; 1Ma_13:51).'On the origin and signification of those names, see Benfey, op. cit. p. 24 sq.; Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 702, 947. From the fact that the second book of Maccabees and Josephus reckon according to the Syro-Macedonian months (Dioscurus, Xanthicus, etc.) it does not follow that the Jews adopted this calendar in the Seleuciderm. In 2 Macc. the Egyptian months (Epiphi, Pachon) are named. See Pott, in the Hall. Lit. —Zeit. 1839, No. 4650; Carpzov, Appar. p. 356 sq.; Michaelis, Comment. 1763-68, Oblat. p. 16 sq.; Langhausen, De Maense Vett. Hebr. Lunari (Jen. 1713; also in Ugolino, Thesaur. 17); Ideler, Chronol. 1, 448 sq. 509 sq. SEE MONTH.
3. Week (שָׁבוּעִ, lit. sevened). This division of the synodal lunar month into seven days (whence the Heb. name) early prevailed among the Israelites, as among other Shemitic people and the Egyptians (Ideler, Chronol. 1, 178; 2, 473); but only among the Israelites was this arrangement associated with cosmogony, with law, and with religion itself, so as to enter into real civil life and form the basis of the whole cycle of festivals. SEE SABBATH. But ordinarily, days rather than weeks (as also among the Greeks and Romans) constituted the conventional mode of computing time (but see Lev_12:5; Dan_10:2 sq.). In the post-exilian period the reckoning by weeks became more customary, and at length special names for particular week-days came into use, enumerated after the formula ἐν μιᾶ'/, or πρώτῳ σαβ βάτων, or σαββάτου, etc. (Mar_16:2; Mar_16:9; Luk_24:1; Act_20:7; 1Co_16:2; see Epiphan. Hcer. 70, 12; so also in Chald. with שִׁבְּתָאor שִׁבִּתָּא; see Otho, Lex. Rabb. p. 273. The word ἑβδομάς does not occur in the New Test.; see also Ideler, Chronol. 1, 481). The astronomical derivation of the week naturally grows out of the obvious fact (Chronol. 1, 60) that the moon changes about every seven (properly seven and three eighths) days, so that the lunar month divides itself into four quarters. Hence nations which have no historical relation in this respect nevertheless agree in the observance (Chronol. 1, 88). The days of the week were named long before the Christian era on regular astrological principles from the seven planets (Lobeck, Aglaopham. p. 933 sq.), which (according to Dion Gass. 37:18) was an Egyptian invention. They began with Saturn's day (Saturday), inasmuch as Saturn was the outermost planet; but among the Jews this day (the Sabbath) was the last of the week, and so the Jewish (and Christian) week commences with Sunday. But these heathenish names were never in general use among the Jews (see Bahr, Symbol. 2, 585 sq.). Weeks or heptads of years belong, among the Jews, to prophetical poetry; but in one instance they occur in a literal sense in prose (Dan_7:24-27), as also among the Romans such annorum hebdomnades were known (Gell. 3, 10; Censorin. De Die Nat. 14). SEE WEEK.
4. Day (יוֹם, so called from its heat; ἡμέρα). The civil day (νυχθήμερον, 2Co_11:25) was reckoned by the Hebrews from sundown to sundown (Lev_23:32); most other ancient nations computed time according to the moon's course (Pliny, 2, 79; Tacit. Germ. c. 11; Caesar, Bell. Gall. 6:18; Isidore, Orig. 5, 30; Censorin. De Die Nat. 23); but before the exile they seem not to have divided the day into special or well- defined portions beyond the natural divisions of morning (בֹּקֶר; see the definition for the Temple-service in the Mishna, Tamid, 3, 2), noon ( צָהַרִיַם, Gen_43:16; Deu_28:29; comp. חום הִיּוֹם, Gen_18:11 Samuel 11:11; and נְכוֹן הִיּוֹם, Pro_4:18), and evening (עֶרֶב. comp. also נֶשֶׁ, the morning and evening breeze), which were in general use, as among the modern Arabs (Niebuhr, Bedouin, p. 108 sq.). During the exile theJews appear to have adopted the division into regular hours (Chald. שָׁעָה) (Dan_4:16; Dan_5:5; 2Es_6:24), as (according to Herod. 2, 109) the twelve hours of the day originated among the Babylonians; and in the New Test. the hours are frequently enumerated. As, however, every natural day of the year was divided into twelve hours (Joh_11:9; see Ideler, Chronol. 1, 84 sq.), they must have been unequal at different seasons of the year, since in the latitude of Palestine the longest summer day lasts from about four A.M. to eight P.M. (Mayr, Reis. 3, 15), being about four hours longer than the shortest. The hours of the day (for those of the night, SEE NIGHT-WATCH ) were naturally counted from sunrise (cock-crowing, קריאת הגבר, was a designation of time observed in the Temple, Mishna, Tamid, 1, 2); whence the third hour (Mat_20:3; Act_2:15) corresponds about to our nine o'clock A.M. (the time when the market-place was full of men, πλήθουσα ἀγορά; see Kype, Observat. 1, 101 sq.; also the first hour of prayer, Act_2:15); the end of the sixth hour (Mat_20:5; Joh_19:14) to midday; with the eleventh hour (Mat_20:6; Mar_15:34) the day inclined to a close and labor ceased (see also Joh_1:40; Joh_4:52; Acts 3, 1; Act_10:3). There were three daily hours of prayer morning, noon, and night; besides, there is occasionally mention of prayer four times a day (Neh_9:3); but a quarterly division of the day (as inferred by Lücke, Joh. 2, 756) is not certain in the New Test. Yet it is somewhat doubtful whether the evangelists, John at least, always reckon according to the Jewish hours (Clericus, Ad Joan. 19:14; Michaelis, in the Hamb. verm. Bibliothek, 3, 338 sq.; Rettigin the Stud. u. Krit. 1830, 1, 101 sq.; Hug, in the Freiburge Zeitschr. 5, 90 sq.). SEE DAY.
5. Hour (Chald. שָׁעָה Gr. éρα). The Oriental Asiatics, especially the Babylonians (Herod. 2, 109, Vitruv. 9:9), had from early times sundials (horologiasolaria) or shadow-measures (Pliny, 36:15); and hence, from the intercourse with Babylon, this useful contrivance may have been introduced into Palestine even before the exile. At all events, something of the kind seems to be meant by the “degrees of Ahaz'” (מִעֲלוֹת אָחָז, Isa_38:8; comp. 2Ki_20:9), either an obelisk which cast its shade upon the steps of the palace, or perhaps a regular gnomon with degrees marked on it (Targ. Jonath. אבן שעיאIt; Symmachus, ὡρολόγιον; Jerome, horoloqium ; see Salmas. Ad Solin. p. 447 sq.; Martini, Abhandl. v. d. Sonnenuhren der Alten [Leips. 1777]; alsoDe Haeroloogiis Vett. Sciothericis [Amst. 1797]). The Romans after U. C. 595 used water-clocks (clepsydrae, Vitruv. 9:9, Pliny, 7:60) for the watch room of post-courses (Veget. Mil. 3, 8) and for regulating the continuance of speaking (Philo, Opp. 2, 597; Becker, Gallus, 1, 187). Whether this practice prevailed among the Jews in the time of Christ, we know not (Zeltner, De Horologio Caiaphae [Altdorf. 1721], does not: touch the point); but they could not have been ignorant of some means of measuring time, whether dials or water-clocks, since the latter are in frequent use in the modern East (Niebuhr, Reis. 2, 74). For a peculiar device for dividing the hours mentioned by the Talmudists, see Otho, Lex. Rabb. p. 282; see also Ideler, Chronol. 1, 230 sq. SEE HOUR.
See, generally, Ulmer, De Calendario Vett. Hebreor. (Altdorf. 1846); Walch, C(lendarium Palcestince (Economicum (Gött. 1786); Hincks, Ancient Egyptian Years and Months (Lond. 1865); id. Assyro Babyloniain Measures of Time (ibid. eod.). SEE CALENDAR.



CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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